This is an EarthCache. There is no physical cache to find. Logging an EarthCache requires that geocachers undertake an educational task relating to the specific Earth Science at the site.
Prior to logging this cache, click on Message this owner, and send answers to the following questions:
1. Describe the type and color of the rock here?
2. Identify any fossils found.
3. Required to log this cache: Please provide a photo of yourself and/or a fossil in the picture to prove you visited the site. Upload the photo with your log.
Fort Negley
This earthcache is located in Fort Negley Park at the 250 sq ft fossil pile next to the visitors center. Admission is free and open year round from dawn to dusk. The site is available anytime the park is open. Fossils can be found just lying on the surface, but shovels and other tools are allowed if you want to get serious. You may keep the fossils you find, or leave them for the next visitor. However, removing any natural or cultural resources found on the surface anywhere else in the park is not allowed. If the Visitors Center is open, you can obtain a sheet showing the various fossils found here. In addition, you can find GC2AV3J Dinosaur Train-Oryctodromeus, which has the rare Partnership attribute. Their hours are limited.
The Ordovician Period ~450 million years ago
The size, shape and orientation of Earth’s continents was much different from today. Nashville and much of North America was close to the equator and covered by a warm shallow sea – similar to today’s Bahamas. Nashville’s rocks are limestone, formed by the accumulations of shells and hard skeletons of marine animals in shallow oceans.
Tennessee limestone, including the limestone used to build Fort Negley, was created hundreds of millions of years ago from the remains of ancient sea creatures. Today, fossils of these animals can be found throughout this dig site.
A large quarry in Parsons, Tennessee, owned and operated by Vulcan Materials Company, is also home to some of the most amazing marine fossils in the United States. In order to reach the limestone needed for construction projects, Vulcan excavates layers of fossil-rich shale and limestone. While these layers are not suitable for constructing buildings and roads, they are perfect for fossil hunting. Vulcan’s commitment to community outreach and education resulted in the donation of more than 23 tons of limestone and shale and the creation of a hands-on outdoor experience at Fort Negley Park. Start digging and discover Tennessee’s ancient marine past!
Some of the fossils found here:
Brachiopods: Phylum Brachiopoda
• Brachiopods were animals with two shells that superficially resembled clams
• Brachiopods efficiently filtered food using an internal ring of tentacles
• Brachiopods could not move, often attached to sea floor
• Brachiopods, although not common today, were dominant 450 million to 250 million years ago
Corals: Phylum Cnidaria
• Corals, made up of small animals called zooids, are solidary or colonial
• Like modern corals, ancient corals formed large reefs in shallow tropical seas
• Corals obtain food through filter feeding
Crinoids: Phylum Echinodermata
• Resembled an upside down sea star attached to a long stalk
• Species still exist today, related to sea urchins
• Acquired food through filtering
• Fragments of crinoid stalks are abundant in Middle Tennessee rocks
Trilobites: Phylum Arthropoda
• More than 20,000 species of trilobite fossils have been found
• Trilobites are extinct
• Trilobites lived in many different habitats from shallow tropical seas to icy polar waters
• Depending on the species, trilobites were predators, scavengers, and filter feeders
• Spiders and lobsters are modern Arthropods
Bryozoans: Phylum Bryozoa
• Bryozoans are the world's smallest complex animals
• Bryozoans form colonies
• Although bryozoans live today, they were very abundant 450 million to 250 million years ago
• Ancient bryozoan colonies are typically preserved as calcite fragments
Source: Fort Negley Visitors Center
